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The number refers to the carbon content of the steel used in the iron. Its listed as a percentage of the total material content. 1030 would be approximately 0.30 percent carbon. 1025 would be approximately 0.25 percent carbon and 1020 would be about 0.20 percent carbon. What your asking about though is the softness of these materials in a golf club. All things being equal, the 1020 would be the softess. However, feeling soft when you hit a golf shot is a different story and is relative to how the club was processed. In other words if nike has a different forging process and different quenching and tempering methods than mizuno which I think they do, it will come out different and feel different. I think mizuno has something called grain flow forging which is to say they make sure the grain structure is consistent on the molecular level. They do this through tempering after the initial quench. Bridgestone has something called endo forging which I really have no idea what is involved. I've heard the miura forging process is like 4 different forging steps to get a very uniform structure. Really though, all of the big companies that make forged irons have a different forging process that gives a different feel. The process is the key though, not the material. They use these particular materials because they are the easiest to work with on a large scale. They are all good materials though.

Basically an good general description of the process. Just as important as the material used is the head design. I've felt 1018 carbon steel heads that feel horrible compared to 1030 heads. Also as the other poster said working and heat treatment play a big role as well. All the 1018-1030 really tells you is they started with this grade carbon steel. One of the softest feeling irons of recent times was the Cobra Forged SS irons which were made from S-30 (essentially Japanese 1030 carbon steel)..

The number refers to the carbon content of the steel used in the iron. Its listed as a percentage of the total material content. 1030 would be approximately 0.30 percent carbon. 1025 would be approximately 0.25 percent carbon and 1020 would be about 0.20 percent carbon. What your asking about though is the softness of these materials in a golf club. All things being equal, the 1020 would be the softess. However, feeling soft when you hit a golf shot is a different story and is relative to how the club was processed. In other words if nike has a different forging process and different quenching and tempering methods than mizuno which I think they do, it will come out different and feel different. I think mizuno has something called grain flow forging which is to say they make sure the grain structure is consistent on the molecular level. They do this through tempering after the initial quench. Bridgestone has something called endo forging which I really have no idea what is involved. I've heard the miura forging process is like 4 different forging steps to get a very uniform structure. Really though, all of the big companies that make forged irons have a different forging process that gives a different feel. The process is the key though, not the material. They use these particular materials because they are the easiest to work with on a large scale. They are all good materials though.

One thing to think about though, feel is largly based on sound.

Well said, I could take the softest steel in the world and forge it with a hammer and fire pit and it will feel terrible, that's why companies use exact amounts of pressure at exact temperatures at exact times in the process. The softest steel I know that is used is 1018 by Scratch (may be wrong.)

PS- Miura actually uses a 14 step process if I remember right, and have never heard of Bridgestone's "endo' forging, but ENDO is a company that forges clubs for a lot of American and Japanese OEM's including Nike, Titleist, Taylormade, and Callaway (100% Nike's are ENDO, 90% sure what I said about the other 3 is true.)

ENDO is very hard to track. The home offices and design center is in Japan but they have joint ventures everywhere with many in China now. I remember the vaunted Taylor Made X-300 FCI irons that supposedly Miura did (Miura did do all the Firesole Forged which were the preceding iron that was only available in Japan). Turns out they only did part of the volume---many people got sets (myself included) from ENDO of Mexico per the stickers on the clubs....

Another example of not knowing where the clubs are made is the new Callaway Tour Authentic Proto Irons. The Tour players irons are made in Japan by ENDO. The retail Tour Authentic Protos are coming from China and aren't presently in the states yet. Varying stories have them held up in customs with no prediction as to when they will ship the first set.